You should know by now that I’m a huge fan of Lichtlaerm Audio and have a special relationship with Joe’s Pedals here in the UK as well as Lichtlaerm’s Daniel Ringl. I own five Licthlaerm pedals to date as per my January update, and there are now two further candidates here - a 2-way Octave and Shimmer Reverb, alongside a really potent 60W Pedalboard Power Amp.

The As Above So Below Reverb is a fairly expansive and full fat Octave Shimmer type unit with FX Loop and ports for Ramping and ...

"Legend has it that when the Devil crossed the Tamar river into Cornwall, he saw what Cornish folk would put into a pie and hastily turned back, in case he might end up as their next meal!"

This of course references that very classic but slightly odd Stargazy Pie which has Pilchards Heads poking out of the pastry, and is traditionally consumed on Tom Bawcock’s Eve, a festival held annually on the 23rd of December.

In any case - the Stargazy Reverb is a 7-knob preamp-driven shimmery ...

So January 2025 sees a momentous milestone - where we have the peak possible number of pedals in the chain - which now numbers no less than 52 Pedals. It’s an incredibly tight squeeze - and all the available space is now fully used up.

I’ve re-flowed the main visual - where I used to try to have a fixed format arrangement - but now have re-numbered the slots entirely corresponding to the number and order of those pedals. Last January I noted that I was going to switch out my 2 Friedman ...

The original Yellow Fall Mini Delay was a secret weapon for many - as the best sounding most affordable ’analog’ delay pedal. Jack White loved it so much - that it’s included on his Donner Triple Threat Multi-FX Collaboration. Even though by the most common classifications - this is not really an ’Analog’ pedal at all - but actually a PT2399 variant!

I was very excited when I first spotted the more expansive Yellow Fall 2 - which has some significant pros, and a slight con in that it’s all ...

When I first clocked this - it immediately brought to mind my recently acquired AC Noises Ricorda Granualar Reverb, amd while there is some degree of overlap between the two - each device is also very distinctive in its own way. Where the QI Etherealizer adds Chorus, and Parallel as well as Series Routing.

It’s a device that perfectly covers Yvette’s key tones in the one device.

Controls - MIX } Mix / Dry (Series / Parallel), Grain, Delay, Chorus; MAIN } Mix / Dry (Series / Parallel), ...

I do like my Reverbs, and have always been intrigued by the more sci-fi sounding variants. The Ricorda was originally down on my ’nice-to-have’ list, until I lucked out with my Chase Bliss Mystery Box - and got one as a bonus pedal!

Essentially you have a huge spatial ambient reverb with a smart granular delay, and then Freeze and Loop functions via the left Footswitch.

I had not fully appreciated the scope of capabilities when I did my original write-up. While this is every way a ...

33 slots updated this year - #2, #3, #4, #5, #7, #9a, #9b, #10, #11, #12, #15a, #15b, #15c, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #22a, #22b, #23, #24, #25, #26, #29, #30, #31, #32, #33, #34, #36, #38, and #41.

There’s been a fair amount of re-routing and re-organising this year - which you should be able to pick via the pattern of changes. The introduction of the stereo Poly Amplitude introduced the biggest change to the board order - to get th most out of that format!

I try to limit acquisitions /...

So this is the big one - all the top performers from the year in one selection.

We’ve already covered :

• 35 Boost & Overdrive Pedal Finalists
• 34 Distortion Pedal Finalists
• 32 Fuzz Pedal Finalists
• 38 Modutility Pedal Finalists
• 25 Delay and Reverb Pedal Finalists

Total Overall Finalist Selection of 164 Pedals!

Distilled down to the final favourites selection, where I own 27 of them, and will try to secure the final missing ones next year :

• Coffee Shop Pedals London Fog Tape Delay -

I obviously just recently won me an AC Noises Ricorda Retro Series Reverb as a Chase Bliss Mystery Box Bonus Pedal - so the first iteration I had to make on this article was to update the standard Blue Ricorda image to the limited colourway edition that I was gifted by my Mystery Box. This selection is typically the one where I own the least proportion of pedals featured, in fact in this case it’s easier to list the few that I own here :

• AC Noices Ricorda Stereo Granular Reverb + Freeze /